S.Korea's Shin Kori No.4 nuclear reactor starts commercial operations

* The 1,400-megawatt nuclear reactor, located near the southeastern city of Busan, can operate for 60 years and will generate about 12% of the electricity used in the country’s southeastern cities, the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Co (KHNP) said in a statement

* The Shin Kori No.4 is the second South Korea-designed APR 1400 model, the same model exported to the United Arab Emirates

* With the start of the new nuclear reactor, South Korea will run a total of 25 nuclear reactors at home, which provide roughly a third of the country’s total electricity needs

* Currently eight nuclear reactors are offline as the country’s nuclear regulator approved on Monday the restart of the Hanbit No.6 nuclear reactor after maintenance, according to the KHNP’s website and Korea Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (Reporting By Jane Chung; editing by Christian Schmollinger)